Ice, Ice baby

The Kootenay Ice are the 2010-11 WHL champions after a 4-1 win over Portland in game five tonight in Portland.

Ice goaltender Nathan Lieuwen was named WHL playoff MVP. That had to be a tight vote, with so many other deserving candidates on the Ice roster - Eakin, McNabb, King, Reinhart.

I suspect at the start of the year the Ice might not have been very high on most people's lists of the top contenders in the WHL. But if there ever was an example of the adage that "it's not how you start but how you finish that counts", the Ice are a prime example. They peaked at exactly the right time and after going down 2-1 to Moose Jaw in the first round of the playoffs, the Ice promptly rattled off 15 wins in their next 16 games to take the WHL title. And that one loss, to Portland in the opener of the final series, was in OT. Imagine, it's playoff time and Kootenay's last regulation loss was back on March 29th in Moose Jaw. They knocked off the #1, #3, and #5 overall teams in the WHL in the last three rounds and only lost one game in the process. They truly are the best team in the WHL and are deserving champions.

For Portland, it's a tough way to end the season but I think the Winterhawks organization can be proud of how far they have come in a very short period of time. Remember, just two years ago this was a sub-.300 team and today they are 2nd-best in the league. They may (or may not!) lose some key players to the NHL next season but there's going to be enough of this team back next year that I'm certain we haven't heard the last of the Winterhawks. (Imagine if somehow they got Niederreiter, Johansen, AND Bartschi all back as 19 year olds next year?)

The Ice are now off to represent the WHL in the Memorial Cup in Mississauga, Ontario. Their competition there will be the OHL's Mississauga St. Michael's Majors and Owen Sound Attack, and from the QMJHL either the Saint John Sea Dogs or the Gatineau Olympiques. Some impressive teams there but I think we've seen in the WHL playoffs that the Ice belong in that group....I'd give them a good chance at winning their second Memorial Cup title. Should be fun to watch.